Fare Well, Gregory Goyle
by Oso el Peligroso
Summary: Narrowly escaping death, dealing with The Trio, and again narrowly escaping death, Gregory Goyle embarks on a grand adventure to try and find his missing friend Vincent Crabbe. VCGG.
1. Forlorn Search

Disclaimer: I own not anything of Harry Potter they all belong to J.K. Rowling; the only thing I own is the plot to this story.

Author's Note: This is kind of a far fetched story but I did my best to keep my facts straight and interline it with the original plot.

**Warning: This is a story that has a slash paring, if that offends, well you have been warned. More importantly it contains SPOILERS, SO DO NOT READ IF YOU HAVEN'T FINISHED/STARTED _DEATHLY HALLOWS._** Unless you don't care, then read on.

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Hogwarts had sustained heavy damage form the first wave of attack, Gregory was sure that if the people did not lay their wands down and submit to the Dark Lord that Hogwarts was at risk of being completely leveled. Gregory hurried along ruined corridors, before he could take leave of the school he had to be sure of Vincent Crabbe's death. Great sorrow was being held at bay by dams of hope and determination; Vincent wasn't dead, couldn't be, no one saw him die. Gregory reached the stair case that would have lead him to floor he needed to get too, alas part of the stair case had been blown to rubble.

Standing still on his trembling legs Gregory gaged whether or not he could leap across the gap. He looked down; the fall probably wouldn't kill him, unless he landed on his head, never the less he was likely to break something if he fell. There were ways around the shattered stairs but there was no time, at any moment the battle would resume. Gregory looked behind him where a Death Eater's corpse laid, limbs slightly contorted, having no wand he had to push the grotesquely stiff corpse out of his way. Corpse out of the way he took some steps back, inhaled deep, then sprinted towards the edge running faster then he ever thought he could. Gregory came up to the crumbling edge, mercifully leaping before the floor ran out from beneath his feet.

Gregory felt everything around him slow, like some mysterious person had cast some time altering charm, allowing him to see that he wasn't going to make it all the way. He braced himself as best he could, his middle hit the stairs, he sent arms out desperately searching for something to hold on too. Nothing but the bumps of the stairs themselves, he folded his arms and pressed down to keep from falling, legs dangling comically in the air. Gregory felt himself slipping, but he couldn't fail Vincent, summoning all the strength in his right leg he swung it over the ledge. One leg and most of his other parts securely on the lowest remaining stair, he had no trouble pulling the rest of himself up. Afraid of losing balance Gregory crawled up the rest of the stairs.

On the solid corridor floor he stood, wincing at a newly formed pain in his right leg probably from hyperextending it on the stair case. Ignoring the protests of the leg, Gregory broke into a limping run, _walk_ _three times past...room that Vince is in, room that Vince is in, room that Vince is in_. The wall in front of which he stopped shifted and began to give way to heavy doors. Starring at the heavy doors the courage that he had mustered up began to drain away, he had to hurry before all the courage disappeared though the sink hole newly forming inside his very being. Hands violently shook as he reached out, paused, and then pushed the doors open.

Gregory blinked several times trying to adjust his eyes to the light before realizing that room was pitch black.

"Vince!" time passed with no answer emerging from the stuffy darkness, Gregory took some steps into the cavernous room which stank of ash and sulfur, and he could see nothing ahead of him. The once vast yet clusterphobic room which held generations of contraband, was trasmutilated into a cavernous, stuffy, dark room.

"Vincent!" Gregory's shouts should have echoed but the ash seemed to devour any returning reverberation. "Come on Vince, answer me!"

Gregory began to run into the suffocating darkness, away from the protection of the distorted rectangle of light that spilled in from the corridor. As heavy footfalls slammed into the stone floor, ash rose into the air.

"Vin-" name lost to the thick ash as it clogged his air passage inducing a coughing fit. Tears began to defensively flow, trying to expel the intruding ash. _Promise I'll...find...you, _Gregory fell to his knees coughing harder, he could taste blood. He tried to choke out one last, "VINCENT!" but couldn't. On his knees, trying to gain control of his coughing, Gregory began to reach desperately in the dark, certain he would find Vincent's warm hand, waiting to help him up.

Gregory now cried out of pain for his searing eyes but more because of the realization that Vincent had burned alive. He allowed himself to slide the rest of the way onto the ground, letting go into the all consuming hopelessness. His sobbing and wheezing became less and less active, death was close, _why_?


	2. New Hope

"Goyle! Hey Goyle, you in here?"

Gregory's body jerked at the far away call, someone had come to his aid. His eyes were in so much pain he was afraid that if he tried to open them they might fall out and roll away. Not that it mattered, he'd gone so deep into the chamber that there was nothing for his eyes to see.

"Goyle!"

The voice was muffled but familiar, _Vincent_, and defiantly not an illusion, Gregory was bestowed with new strength. He called back to his savior as best his damaged vocals would allow, "Hhehlph."

"Goyle is that you?"

He pounded on the floor making as much noise as possible, unable to speak anymore.

"Keep it up, I'll find you."

He added to the pounding of the floor by kicking it as well, adding to the noise.

"Okay stop." The voice laced with worry and fear now, was directly behind him. It was familiar he was sure of it but it was hard to tell if it was Vincent's, the acoustics in the chamber were horrible. It was certainly possible that it belonged to Vincent, who could have escaped the fiendfyre before they had and ran off, afraid that his friends had fallen at his own hands. Immediately after Gregory stopped moving he felt hands wrap themselves around his thick ankles. The person dragging Gregory was having trouble, _Vincent must be tired, got to help him_. Gregory began pushing back with his arms in union with the bouts of dragging then stopping to rest his savior was doing. Even with the added help it took both of them a half an hour to reach the safety of the lit corridor.

Even though his closed, watery lids the delicate torch light added to the burning of his eyes. Still he could not wait to see Vincent's face, whose face he could feel hovering above his own. Deciding that quickly would be better then slowly, he opened blood shot eyes long enough to see Draco's face starring down at him. Resealing his eyes Goyle bellowed writhing in newly realized agony. His senses having held off in anticipation now flared as if someone had cast the cruciatus curse on him, he slipped out of consciousness.

Gregory awoke upon a stretcher situated in tee Great Hall; it took him a moment to realize that he had bandages over his eyes. He removed them, surprisingly he could open them experiencing only mild discomfort. The Great Hall came into a blurry focus, still he could see and that's what mattered, and he could get glasses or something. Sitting up he surveyed the area, there were several stretchers holding persons with varying injuries. To the far corner mourners were sifting through the dead desperately trying to find out what happened to their loved ones. Gregory dropped off the stretcher and made his way out of the Great Hall not knowing where to go, only knowing that he did not belong in the Great Hall.

"Goyle?"

Gregory turned to face Draco, answering him with a disillusioned, "Wha?"

"Come on, let's go. My mum and dad said you can stay with us...you know, till we hear from your parents."

"Do we know who won yet?"

Draco's face contorted with thought, wondering how much of the final battle he should retell. Deciding for once that it was not his place to withhold from his friend he told the tale of Harry Potter, the Elder Wand, and the fall of the Dark Lord Voldemort.

"Elder Wand? Like the one from _The Three Brothers_?" A new crazy hope glinted in his eyes.

"I guess. You ready to go?"

No, I'm not. Go without me, I need to do something."

"What are you-" Gregory had already turned and began to make his way back into the Great hall. "GOYLE!"


	3. The Trio

If the Elder Wand was real then the invisibility cloak and Resurrection Stone had to be real to. That was how Potter had defeated the Dark Lord, but that didn't matter, only the Resurrection Stone mattered. Gregory was certain that Potter and his pose were in the Headmasters office, he hurried along. The gargoyle that normally guarded the stair case lay off to the side, both ignoring one another Gregory climbed the spiral stair case. The great doors were closed but he could make out muffled sounds seeping out from the interior.

Having no plan Gregory did the first thing that he could think of, knock on the office doors. The voices hushed simultaneously, regret hit hard giving birth to second thoughts, _maybe this wasn't such a good idea_. The door creaked open at first but as soon as the person caught sight of Gregory it swung the rest of the way almost crashing into Gregory. As he regained his footing he was face to face with an angry Weasley brandishing his wand

"What the bloody hell do you want?"

Gregory lifted his hands showing that he was unarmed, "Don't...please, I need to ask Potter something."

Weasley's only answer was his angry stare; he made no attempt to get Potter.

Careful not to make any sudden movements Gregory got onto his knees, clasped his hands, and pleaded for the first time in his life, not counting the times he playfully pleaded with Vincent. "I'm beggin' you please let me ask Potter something.

Gregory thought that Weasley's face softened a little, or might have just been the flickering of shadows cast by the touch light, either way, "Harry, _Goyle_ needs to talk to you."

Shuffling and confused whispers, then Potter appeared at the doorway, wand also out and ready. Harry looked mildly surprised, "What is it?"

"You have the stone that brings people back from the dead righ'?"

The question drew Granger to the door completing the trio, the three of them throwing each other nervous glances.

"Pardon?"

_Potter's playing dumb_. Gregory had no idea how he was going to get the stone off of Potter. "Please..." he inhaled deep, "I'll give it back, I swear."

"I don't know what-"

"Come on, what do I have to do? I'll do anything."

Weasley interjected before Potter could respond, "Don't listen to him; he's probably going to use it to call back Voldemort."

Potter shot an 'I want to kick you' look at Weasley for spilling the beans, _ha! They were playing dumb_; Potter could no longer pretend ignorance.

"What do you _need_ it for?" Weasley and Granger's jaws hit the floor but they remained silent.

"I...I..." the trios eyes were all peering into his own expecting him to make up some ludicrous lie, nothing short of the truth was going to satisfy them. _What do I care if they know? I'll never have to deal with them after this_. Still Gregory hesitated this was a secret that he had kept quiet for four years, and then they had kept it together for another three.

"Vincent and I are...were more then friends...I need to know for sure that...he's...gone, no I just need to say good bye." Fresh tears made muddy paths down Gregory's filthy face.

Granger looked shocked even touched; Weasley on the other hand looked discussed, "You and Crabbe? YOU AND CR-"

"Ron!" Potters face full of pity for the boy kneeling in front of him. "You swear? No funny business, that's all you want the stone for?"

Gregory nodded his head; a red hue could be seen on his cheeks where the tears had left torrents behind.

Potter explained to Gregory that he had left the Resurrection Stone on the forest floor where he had fallen. Having all the information that he needed Gregory stood, looked at the three of them then turned ­his back and ran towards the Hogwarts grounds, to the Forbidden Forest. He faintly heard Weasley ask Potter if it was a good idea to trust him with the Resurrection Stone. It didn't matter what they thought anymore, Gregory knew what he had to do and where he had to go.


	4. Needle In A Haystack

Standing outside the border of the Forbidden Forest, Gregory stood doubled over holding his knees catching his breath. He had run non-stop to the point where he stood; he would walk through the forest not wanting to attract any unwanted attention. The forest was wide awake; the creatures had been thrown into a war that should have only involved Wizards and Witches. There was no doubting that some of those creatures would kill him if they got the chance, and without his wand he was a walking target. Gregory, breath caught, entered the forest, walking as carefully as he could not wanting to make unnecessary noise.

Heavy boots crunched loudly despite his over exuberant efforts to make little noise. Every step produced loud crunches, which were in part answered by other crunching noises. _Damn boots, they're going to get me killed_, deciding it would be best to discard his boots he unlaced them, peeled off his socks, and placed them uncharacteristically neatly by a tree. His bare feet, along with carefully placed steps, were near soundless, things around him quitted down some.

The torch Gregory had nicked from the castle spawned ominous shadows, stocking him in the dim glow. Normally he wouldn't have been putting his life in such a life threatening situation for someone other then himself, which was more of a Gryffindor thing. When it came to Vincent though, his best bloke, partner, Gregory was prepared to do anything. Gregory's ears strained to hear any approaching danger; his eyes, though getting progressively worse, flashed from side to side looking for anything askew. It felt as if ages had passed when Gregory finally reached the point that Potter had described to him.

The forest floor was covered in leaves, rocks, pebbles, twigs, and other forest paraphernalia; finding one specific stone in all of the clutter would be a miracle. _Needle in a haystack, bloody needle in a haystack_, he stepped around looking for a groove that Potter might have left behind. Didn't take him long to give up that plan, drop on all fours and begin looking at each individual stone on the forest floor.

Hours past, the pink light of morning began to shine through the break in the leaves. Gregory's eyes had been heavy with sleep but he shrugged it off, determined to return Vincent to the physical world. About an hour ago his vision had become severely blurred, hindering his efforts to examine each pebble he picked up. Unable to see anything but dark shapes Gregory now turned every pebble three times, waited a minute, and then threw the pebble as far as his aching muscles would allow him.

A branch behind him snapped, fatigued it took Gregory longer then normal to process the branch that had snapped had been close, real close. He jumped to a standing position sending blood straight to his head. Retaining consciousness long enough to see the silhouette of some thing standing in front of him, he fainted.


	5. Fare Wells

"Gregory?" On his haunches the silhouette of the person peered over Gregory, and poked him. "Hay Greg wake up mate."

Gregory groaned he didn't want to wake up yet, after an all nighter studying for his Muggle Studies test he wanted to rest. "Give me another hour," he bawled.

"Get up you lazy sod." The figure continued to poke him, slightly harder then before.

Gregory opened his exhausted eyes annoyed that someone was trying to pull him out of his fluffy bed prematurely. "What the hells wrong with you? Can't you see that I'm trying to sleep?" Though his eyes were open he was having trouble focusing them, everything was undefined.

"Well if that's how you feel, I'll just go back to being dead." The words were harsh but the tone was light hearted.

Realizing that he was not tired because he had been studying for a test, that he was not in the Slytherin dormitory; that in fact he was in the Forbidden Forest trying to resurrect his dead friend, Gregory attempted to sit up but he was gently pushed back down.

"Don't get up, ya look bloody awful." The owner of the voice put a hand on Gregory's own.

"Vince, 's'that you?" Gregory could only see the dark shape of the person in front of him.

"What, I look different from the last time that you saw me?"

"Vince!" Gregory grabbed onto Vincent's shoulders and pulled him down, holding him tightly. "Don't leave me again."

They laid there on the dirty floor holding each other, both crying silently, happy to see each other. Vincent broke the silence, whispering into Gregory's ear, "Would you really want me to stay, like this?"

Gregory knew that he couldn't ask Vincent to stay in the living realm in the half state that he was in, even though he really wanted him too stay. "What am I supposed to do without ya?"

"I dunno, live on. Find someone else, have kids or something. Just try and live a happy life. Live it for both of us." Vincent knew that he was spewing out clichés, but it really was how he felt.

"But I've never found anyone else-"

"Hush up, you'll find someone else, or I'll come back and haunt you." Vincent pushed himself off of Gregory. "Okay we need to get you back to Hogwarts, what the hell happened to you 'neways?"

"Well I thought you might be okay-"

"So you're delusional too."

"-so I went back to that one room to look for you but it was too dark to see inside, so I ran inside looking, but then I started to breathe in the ash, everything went black. Only reason I am still alive is that Draco saved me.

Surprised that Draco actually gave a damn, "Really?"

"Yeah, guess he dose care about us. 'Neways woke up on a stretcher in the Great Hall. Found out Potter might have the stone that brings dead blokes back to life, begged him to to tell me where it was, and I guess that I found it."

"You begged, Potter? And he believed you? How'd ya manage that?"

"Errumm, told him about us...you ain't mad are you?"

"What do I care, I'm dead. Okay we have to get you back to Hogwarts; I think that ash might make you blind if you don't get proper treatment." Vincent helped Gregory to his feet letting his injured friend put the majority of his weight on himself. "Can you see anything?"

Gregory blinked stupidly, "Not really, everything's too blurry to make out."

"Well then, I'll be your eyes and one of your legs." Vincent moved forward catching Gregory off guard. "Sorry. You ready to go?"

Gregory nodded, "Yeah." And they were off.

Both boys made their way through the forest; Vincent wasn't experienced in the Forbidden Forest having only been there a limited number of times in his years at Hogwarts. Still he felt like the way that he was leading them was the right way. The boys were quiet for the whole of the walk, each knowing that every step was taking them closer to their immediate departure. The trees began to thin out and Gregory seemed to get heavier.

"Dude you tired or something?"

"Kinda, yeah, why?"

"'Cause you're getting sorta heavy."

"Sorry." Gregory took back some of his weight; he had been putting more weight on Vincent in a desperate attempt to prolong their time together.

Moments later they reached the border that separated chaotic forest from the well kept grounds, the ruined Hogwarts still bustling with activity. "Can you make it back to the Great Hall?"

"Think so, I can still make out shapes."

They stood for a moment leaning on each other listening to one another's heart beat.

"You know I can't go in there with you." Vincent carefully stopped supporting Gregory, making sure his friend didn't collapse.

"Yeah."Gregory turned to face Vincent; he could only make out the general shape of Vincent's face.

"Come on Greg," Vincent brushed his thumb on Gregory's filthy face. Vincent leaned in and met Gregory's lips, for one last kiss. "Good bye, Greg." Vincent turned.

Gregory grabbed Vincent's shoulder, "Wait, I don't have the stone I can'-"

Vincent brushed Gregory's hand off of his shoulder, grabbed it, and then returned to the forest. Weeping again Gregory turned the stone in his hand, and then threw it back into the forest.

"Good bye..." Gregory stumbled toward the school.


	6. Dirty Boots

Neville hid behind a tree watching Gregory Goyle stumble towards Hogwarts. He had to fight the urge to go and help the helpless looking boy reach the school. Neville sat down, unable to watch Gregory anymore, to the side of where he sat were Gregory's boots he wanted to hug them but thought was a tad too pathetic. Neville knew in his heart that Gregory wasn't all that bad, how could someone who risked their life for his dead _friend_. Rolling the stone that Gregory had thrown back into the forest he wondered for the first time that night, whether or not he had done the right thing. Tricking Gregory into thinking he was Vincent was more a Slytherin thing.

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End note: Well that was the story, hoped you liked it, and if you didn't well sorry I guess. Either way please take some time to review it, I would greatly appreciate it.


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